


i like me better when i'm with you

by cressisaqueen



Category: The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, F/M, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Friends to Lovers, Jasiper, Mutual Pining, drew is wayyyy ooc but thats okay, i also really hope piper isn't too ooc, piper is a Bicon, silena x charlie, tatbilb au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-19
Updated: 2019-08-21
Packaged: 2019-10-31 06:38:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 19,640
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17844320
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cressisaqueen/pseuds/cressisaqueen
Summary: It’s become a tradition that whenever Piper gets a crush on someone, she writes them a love letter. Not a real love letter, not a letter that she’ll ever actually send. She writes a letter so she can put her feelings into words to better understand them; so she can get rid of her crush as soon as possible.(inspired by the fabulous jasonsmclean on tumblr)





	1. to be young and in love in new york city

**Author's Note:**

  * For [jasonsmclean](https://archiveofourown.org/users/jasonsmclean/gifts).



> i'm in love with this book and movie plus i just need more jasiper content in my life
> 
> *me, banging pots and pans* aphrodite is japanese because drew is canonically(ish) japanese and that's that
> 
> like it said in the summary, this fanfic is inspired by jasonsmclean so check out her tumblr blog and account on here too!

It’s become a tradition that whenever Piper gets a crush on someone, she writes them a love letter. Not a real love letter, not a letter that she’ll ever actually send. She writes a letter so she can put her feelings into words to better understand them; so she can get rid of her crush as soon as possible.  

The letters are usually sweet, but to the point. _Hey, I like you. You’re a nice person. I like how you laugh. We have fun in class together._ Never have any of Piper’s letters been truly romantic. She doesn’t think she can risk her heart like that. 

* * *

_August_

Drew is being a little shit and Piper can’t take it anymore. 

“She’s going to leave whether you get off your butt or not. Wouldn’t you rather see her off than sulk in your room?” Drew just turns up her music, blasting it loud enough that Piper can hear it through Drew’s headphones. 

She just _had_ to throw a fit the night before Silena’s supposed to leave for college. In Paris. About a million miles away from Piper and Drew. Okay, Piper can understand why her sister is being a little shit. But she shouldn’t take it out on Silena when she’s going to be gone for months. 

“If you get in the car and don’t whine, I’ll make Dad stop for ice cream on the way home,” Piper reasons. Drew somehow hears her and takes off her headphones. She nods, pulling a sweatshirt over her head. Ah, bribery.

When Silena had announced she was accepted by a fancy college in France, Piper had wanted to cry, beg her not to go. Silena was Piper’s best friend. She taught her how to do pirouettes without getting dizzy, she introduced her to their mom’s favorite old Japanese dramas.  She couldn’t just leave _._

But Piper is not one to make a scene, so she let Drew do it for her. 

“Okay, but who’s going to help me pick out makeup? We both know Pipes is useless with makeup, and Dad doesn’t trust me with money anymore.” Her reasoning was so _Drew,_ so herself that Piper had wanted to laugh. 

They go downstairs and Piper wants to ask where Charlie is. He should be coming with them, breakup be dammed. Apparently you can’t stay friends with your ex even when you’ve been together for almost two years. 

The ride to the airport is emotional and frustrating. Drew still won’t talk to Silena, Dad keeps making wrong turns (though maybe it’s on purpose), and Piper stupidly left her phone at home. The radio somehow thinks it’s acceptable to play songs about missing someone which makes everything so much worse. Piper might actually cry. 

JFK is packed with people and Drew keeps elbowing everyone. She also doesn’t let go of Silena’s hand. 

“How am I possibly going to survive junior year without you?” Piper asks. Silena laughs, wipes her eyes. 

“You know, this could be a good chance to make new friends,” Silena says. Piper shakes her head, responds with a million nos. She’s fine where she is; she has Leo... Sometimes Percy and Annabeth. She always has Charlie, before Silena dated him and especially after. Make new friends? What kind of bullshit is that? 

_Flight 2901 to Paris, France is now boarding. Flight 2901 to Paris, France is now boarding._

Piper sighs, sad and defeated. Silena has tears rolling down her cheeks. Drew goes on her tiptoes to wrap her arms around Silena’s neck. Piper joins their hug, rests her chin on Drew’s head. 

“Call us every day,” Dad says. Silena nods, mouths ‘will do’. Piper knows she’s getting choked up. She doesn’t even realize she’s crying until Silena has to let them go. 

_Last call for flight 2901 to Paris, France._

And just like that, her best friend is gone. 

* * *

“Can I borrow your boots for tomorrow?” Piper asks. She’s making lunches, not really trusting herself. Is Drew allergic to peanuts, or is that Dad? Or is it her? 

“The ankle ones? Will they fit you?” Drew asks from her perch on the kitchen counter. Piper shrugs, not knowing if Drew was simply asking or making fun of her foot size. They should fit; Piper hasn’t grown since the eighth grade. 

“Silena left that cute cardigan that Grandpa Tom bought her, so I thought I’d wear that with your boots.” Drew cackles, actually _cackles_ _,_ like she’s a fucking witch. Which means Piper just said something stupid. 

“Those boots definitely do not go with that sweater.” She lets out one more cackle for good measure. “How are you possibly going to survive college without my fashion advice?” Piper rolls her eyes. She doesn’t have the best fashion sense, but she likes what she likes. 

Piper puts the sandwich that hopefully won’t kill anyone in her family in the fridge. Honestly how did Silena do it? How was she so thoughtful and kind that she remembered everyone’s favorites? Piper doesn’t even know what _her_ favorite food is.  

“Don’t worry, I’ll just send you Snapchats of my terrible Hawaiian shirts and ask you to rate it.” 

“I’m glad you’re finally aware of how much those shirts fucking suck.” 

“Drew, language,” Dad says, balancing a bunch of dirty plates and a mug in his hands. Drew’s ears go red and Piper can see her go stiff. 

Their relationship with their father is a weird one. Tristan McLean is a good father, but also an absent one. Sure, he was there for Silena’s soccer games back in middle school, and he went to all of Piper’s choir shows when she was in fifth grade. But he’s not there for the small things, the everyday occurrences. He’s busy, they know. But he should know that Drew’s been cursing up a storm since seventh grade.  

“Sorry, Dad,” Drew mumbles. She jumps down from the counter, fixes her hair to cover her ears. 

Dad puts the dishes in the sink, mutters something about dealing with them later. 

“You ready for school tomorrow?” he asks. Piper nods, not ready to go on her spiel of how everyone at her school is fake, and she can’t do this without Silena, and Drew shouldn’t be growing up this fast. 

She loves her father, there’s no doubt about it. But he can feel like a background character in her life. 

“Oh, I totally forgot. I won’t be able to take you girls to school, I have an early morning call.” 

“It’s fine, Dad,” Piper says. It’s not like he knows how much of a shitty driver she is. 

* * *

It’s two in the morning and Piper can’t sleep. She made sleepy time tea like her mom used to do (it wasn’t the same), she tried putting on calming music (it just made her more anxious), and she even started to clean her room (something she never ever does). 

Now she’s on plan D: read all of her old love letters. Maybe the cringyness will shock her into sleeping. 

 _To: Percy Jackson._ Holy shit. Holy shit, she forgot she had a crush on Percy. 

 _I_ _have to_ _admit that it’s weird to see you with Annabeth all the time._ Holy. Shit. 

_I don’t know if it’s jealousy or something else, but it made me realize that I like you. Maybe it’s stupid to fall for your best friend (at least I think you’re my best friend) but I think it can be exciting._

Piper wants to gouge her eyes out. Was she really this much of a dumbass? She can’t even remember when she wrote this; it couldn’t be after seventh grade. Seventh grade was when Percy told Piper he was basically in love with Annabeth. 

_You always know how to make me laugh, and you know what it’s like to have an absent dad._

She can’t read anymore. This feels like an invasion of privacy. She’s invading her younger self’s privacy. She moves on to the next one. 

Letter two: Will Solace. This she does remember. Eighth grade, field trip to the Empire State Building. That’s when her crush developed. It was a small, one-week thing. But he was always really sweet and could make her laugh no matter what. They’re even still sort of friends. 

Letter three: Charlie Beckdendorf. Silena’s Charlie. The crush that Piper feels the most guilty about. 

Piper had met Charlie when he moved next door during his freshman year. Piper was in eighth grade, Silena was a sophomore. He was so nice to her and would hang out with her whenever she wanted. He listened to her and confided in her. And if Piper is being completely honest, Charlie was the only crush that she hoped would actually work out. 

When Silena told Piper about her crush on a boy, Piper was over the moon. Silena was truly a romantic at heart, and Piper knew that she would make any boy happy. She just didn’t think it would be Charlie. 

Piper knew she was being selfish. She knew she couldn’t tell anyone about her feelings for him, and so she kept quiet, until her feelings went away. 

 _Moving on,_ Piper thinks, wanting to bury his letter, vowing never to read it. 

Letter four: Reyna Ramirez-Arellano. Piper’s first real crush on a girl. While Reyna made Piper realize she likes girls too, it wasn’t a big thing. It was ‘Oh hey, I’m bisexual. Cool.’ 

Reyna transferred to Piper’s school when she was a freshman. Some guy in their PE class tried to flirt with her and she immediately punched him in the face. That’s when Piper knew she liked Reyna. 

Piper thinks it can’t be too bad to read this letter. She had written it after Reyna moved away that summer. Piper still doesn’t know why she moved, but she thinks it has something to do with Amazon warriors. 

 _Please like girls._ That’s it? She couldn’t have written just that. Piper may not be exceptionally romantic, but she is her mother’s daughter. 

She reads it again. _Please like girls._ Actually, no. That's all she needed to say. That's all you can say when you don’t know if your crush is into girls or not. You just have to hope. 

Letter five: Jason Grace. The most recent crush she’s had. He was in her chemistry class last year – she specifically started her letter with _we have chemistry -_ and he was nothing but a sweetheart. 

He’s insanely smart too. Almost Annabeth Smart. He can be awkward and dorky, but Piper thinks that’s why she liked him. He also bought her food so many times, which always makes her like a person a little bit more. 

She would probably die if they ever actually dated though. While being the school’s golden boy and a complete nerd, he’s also really attractive, and so many girls have confessed to liking him. Piper doesn’t want to be just another girl who likes Jason Grace. That made getting over him pretty easy. 

Piper’s about to open the envelope and read what sophomore Piper thought was romantic, when someone knocks on her door. Who the hell could be up at two in the morning? She scrambles to put away her letters, stuffs them in an old hat box her mom had given her. 

Piper grips the blanket she has around her shoulders like a cape and quietly opens the door. And it’s Drew. Holding out her ankle boots. Piper smiles and tugs her baby sister into her arms. 

“You have mediocre fashion sense,” Drew whispers, voice groggy. She’s been surprisingly sentimental lately, but Piper likes it. It makes her feel wanted. 

* * *

 _Should have burned this place down when I had the chance,_ Piper thinks as she walks into her second period class. Except there’s Jason Grace, so maybe it’s not going to be so terrible. 

He got glasses. He looks good in glasses. 

He sees her and waves. A small, shy wave that sends Piper’s stomach on a rollercoaster. Can’t someone simply get over a guy? 

She sits behind him and takes off his glasses. He doesn’t protest, just smiles at her. 

“Wow, you’re fucking blind,” Piper says as she puts them on. Fuck, her head immediately hurts. Jason laughs and takes them back. 

Throughout class he turns back and looks at her. He makes faces and little comments that make her laugh way harder than they should. They almost get in trouble three times. 

“You’re in a surprisingly good mood for the first day back,” Leo comments in fourth period. He's right; Piper has only mentally yelled at twenty people today instead of her usual forty. 

“I saw Khione spill her coffee on her douchebag of a brother before class,” Piper lies. She doesn’t know why she lies, but she does. Plus, Leo laughs and doesn’t question her good mood any further. She just can’t allow herself to get sucked back into the vortex of liking Jason. That would just be asking for trouble. 

* * *

“Is that really necessary?” Piper asks. Drew gets into the passenger seat of the car, a bike helmet on her head. 

“Extremely.” Drew responds without a hint of sarcasm. Ugh. 

Piper begins to back out, focusing all her energy on not hitting anything. So of course, she hits someone. 

 _Fuck._ She looks in the rearview mirror. Who else could it be besides Jason Grace? _Fuccccck_ _._

He goes up to her side of the car, knocks on the window. Piper hesitantly rolls it down, a thousand apologies on her tongue. 

“You do know you’re supposed to look behind you before backing up, right?” Piper refuses to look at him. She can’t tell if he’s actually pissed off, or if he’s just giving her a hard time.  “You’re in charge,” he says, pointing at Drew. 

Drew laughs her witch cackle as Jason walks away. Piper wants to burst into flames. Maybe if she’s lucky the car will catch fire too. 

“Who was that?” Drew asks, tightening the strap on her helmet. No doubt she’s going to tell her friends how her incompetent older sister almost ran over probably the hottest guy in the eleventh grade. 

“That was Jason Grace,” Piper says. She makes absolutely no attempt to continue backing out. 

A few seconds pass when Drew asks, “What are you waiting for?” 

“We’re waiting for all the cars to leave.” She can’t have any witnesses. 

* * *

_A chance to make new friends._

Silena’s words rattle around in Piper’s head. She feels guilty for wanting to call her. Silena's in Paris for fuck’s sake. Piper’s sure she’s made a bunch of new fancy French friends already. 

It’s not like Piper needs to make friends. She has plenty! Maybe that’s why she’s sitting in the living room, watching 90s rom-coms with Drew. Too many people are asking her to hang out so she’s ignoring all of them. 

“Should we invite Charlie?” Drew asks halfway through _10 Things I Hate About You._ He would always watch with them, even if he pretended to gag whenever the couples started kissing. That would always make Piper and Drew laugh. “It feels wrong without him and Silena.” 

Piper nods, offers to turn it off. They put on _Star Wars_ instead and Drew puts Piper’s hair into two very droopy buns. 

“We should go to Comic Con and you can be my R2-D2,” Piper says. Drew blankly stares at her. “Cause you’re so tiny,” she explains. Drew flips her off and throws a pillow. Piper dodges and grabs the remote. She holds it like a blaster, shouts _pew_ _pew_ _pew_ _._

“I’ve been hit!” Drew screeches, and falls over the side of the couch. There's a loud thump on the floor which sends Piper into a fit of giggles. 

A distant ‘keep it down!’ can be heard from their father’s office. Drew slowly crawls back onto the couch as Piper takes her hair out of the buns. 

Drew’s phone begins buzzing again; it’s been buzzing all night. Piper suddenly feels self-conscious. She knows for a fact no one has tried to call or text her. Not even Leo, who blows up her phone for no other reason than to annoy her. 

“Should you answer?” Piper asks. Drew shakes her head, keeps her attention on the movie. Piper knows her sister loves her, but she also knows that Drew would rather be out with her friends on a Friday night. 

“Pipes?” Drew asks a few minutes later. Luke has just rescued Princess Leia and they swing across the chasm, Stormtroopers firing. “What if you got a boyfriend?” 

“What?” Piper asks, startled. “Where did this come from?” 

“Well, then you would spend time with him and not be so lonely.” Piper raises her eyebrows. This little shit. “I didn’t mean it like that! I’m just saying that if you had a boyfriend, he could drive us around, and...” she trails off. 

“And you wouldn’t have to spend as much time with me,” Piper finishes. Drew looks so guilty that Piper almost feels sorry. Almost. “No, I get it. I’m such a drag.” 

“That’s not it!” She’s being such an asshole, but she doesn’t care. Drew takes a breath. “Piper, I’m fourteen, and I _cancelled_ plans to be here. You’re sixteen and I don’t think you had anything else going on.” 

 _A chance to make new friends._ Silena said it. Drew’s saying it. Piper knows she’s not the most popular person, but she has fun in her own ways. She doesn’t need more people or even a boyfriend to feel complete. 

But maybe they’re right. She sometimes has the tendency to push people away. It might be time to start working on that. 

* * *

Piper wants to die. How dare her gym teacher make her do... exercise. 

“C’mon, just. A. Few. More. Laps,” Leo wheezes out. Piper's certain he’s going to collapse. Maybe if she helps him to the nurse she won’t have to finish running. 

Piper feels like she’s about to pass out when Jason appears on the track. 

“Hey, Piper, can we talk?” he asks. She tries to say she’s in the middle of something, but no words come out. Because he’s holding her letter. _The_ letter. The letter she wrote to him explaining exactly how hard she was crushing on him. 

How the _fuck_ did he get it?  

Piper is frozen. She can’t move, can’t even speak. Leo mutters something about them needing some alone time and hobbles off. 

Jason takes a step forward, asks if she’s alright. She takes a step back. How can she be alright? Wait. If Jason got his letter, did everyone else get theirs? 

Piper’s question is answered, because sure enough, Charlie Beckendorf walks down from the lunch tables, a letter clutched in his fist. 

“Oh shit.” Time is frozen and Piper McLean is fucked. 

She looks between Charlie and Jason, determines which is the lesser of two evils. If she faces Jason, what’s the worst that could happen? He becomes extremely awkward around her? She can handle that. 

Piper looks back at Charlie one more time, takes a deep breath, and grabs the front of Jason’s shirt. His surprise only lasts a moment before he starts to kiss her back. Jason Grace is kissing her back. Piper finds herself smiling against his mouth. 

“McLean! Two more laps!” her gym teacher shouts. Piper and Jason break apart. His face is a very bright pink and Piper doubts her face is any better. 

“Thank you,” Piper says, her voice somehow not betraying her embarrassment, before she sprints off to the bathroom, passing a very confused and somewhat hurt Charlie Beckendorf. 


	2. as long as you're here with me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jason laughs and Piper can’t help but laugh with him. Maybe it wouldn’t be the worst thing ever if she liked him again. 
> 
> Wait. She has an idea. A terrible, awful, dumb idea. 
> 
> “What if we pretended to date.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ahhh thank you all so much for the incredible comments!! my heart is literally soaring

_ August  _

 

Piper can’t hear anything except the sound of her heartbeat. It’s practically echoing off the bathroom stalls,  so loud that it’s  threatening to  topple everything to the ground . 

If Jason and Charlie got their letters... Piper doesn’t even want to finish that thought. It’s already bad enough that people she  kind of  considers friends think she wants to date them, but now Charlie got a love letter from his ex’s little sister. And he’s  definitely going to tell  Silena .

The one thing that was established between Piper and her sisters before their mother left is that none of the girls in the McLean household will keep secrets. Mom had broken that rule, and so has Piper. 

Silena will never forgive her. 

That thought alone makes Piper want to vomit. 

The beat of her heart gets louder and louder, until someone says her name. 

“Piper, I saw you run in here. I just want to make sure you’re okay.” It’s Will Solace. Letter number two. 

She doesn’t trust herself to answer. Anxiety and guilt swirl in her stomach. Piper’s sure that if she even opens her mouth, she’ll break down. This entire situation is already too much of a mess. 

“Piper?” Will asks. She can see his shoes, bright and clean compared to the floor. A voice that sounds like her mother echoes in her head.  _ Just breathe, ma  _ _ cherie _ _.  _

She can’t cry, she won’t let herself cry. Piper McLean will not be that girl who’s always crying over a boy. Well, in this case, it’s  boys  plural . 

“Piper, please talk to me. I got the letter.” Maybe if she just closes her eyes  really tight , she’ll be able to teleport home. 

_ Running away won’t solve your problems.  _

“Please, you have to understand that I wrote that a long time ago,” Piper says, her voice shaky and quiet.

Will chuckles and says, “Yeah, eighth grade field trip. I remember that. Valdez kept asking me for things to throw over the side of the building.” Piper laughs at that. Leo ended up throwing a stuffed animal from the gift shop and hitting a police officer. 

“Just to clarify, I don’t have feelings for you anymore.”

 A week after the field trip, Piper saw Will holding hands with a girl in their math class and the spell was broken. 

“I figured; I mean you were making out with Jason Grace, so I just assumed you two are together.” What?  _ Making out? _ No, no,  absolutely not . It was just a kiss. No one was making out with anyone. 

“We’re not together,” Piper says, suddenly glad for the stall door blocking her very red face. She hesitates before adding, “He actually got a letter too.” Will laughs, tries to hide it by coughing. 

Embarrassment has been added to Piper’s guilt and anxiety, and it feels like a very terrible party where no one is having fun. 

The bell rings, which Piper can’t tell if it’s a curse or a blessing. It gets her out of this embarrassing conversation, but she  has to face everyone else now. 

Piper opens the stall door and Will is smiling at her. And his smile doesn’t send her heart fluttering like it used to. Instead, she smiles back. Maybe this isn’t too much of a mess. Maybe she can fix it. 

* * *

_ September _

Why did Piper decide to drive? Who allowed that? 

“This is a mistake,” Leo says from the passenger seat. Piper couldn’t agree more. “Why are we even going to the mall in the first place?” 

_ To escape every reminder of my sister and her ex.  _ But Leo doesn’t know about the letters, doesn’t even know about her kiss with Jason. Which is a miracle because he was there when it happened. 

She feels a little guilty about not telling him, but the whole situation hasn’t blown up in her face yet, so she has some time to come up with excuses. 

“Doesn’t that cute guy from school work at the pet store on Saturdays?” Piper asks,  feigning innocence .  Leo blushes a dark shade of pink and Piper is saved from any further questions.  

They find a parking spot while simultaneously yelling at an old man and barely dodge three people they see from school. Maybe coming to the mall was a mistake. 

Piper’s about to order something from the food court when Leo says, “Shit, how does my hair look?” The truth: messy and unruly, but it works for him. 

“Why are you asking?” Leo turns Piper to the cause of his outburst and there’s Pet Store Guy. Frank Zhang. A total sweetheart and captain of the wrestling team. Also, the guy Leo’s had a crush on for three years. 

Leo’s not b eing discreet with his staring, and Frank waves at them. Piper smiles, waves back, while Leo turns away and slurps on the smoothie he bought. Frank’s face falls; Piper can see the blush on his cheeks from where she’s sitting. 

Leo’s an absolute dumbass. 

“He’s never going to talk to you if you keep avoiding him,” Piper says. Leo starts to chew on the smoothie straw, properly sulking. 

“Who are you to give relationship advice; you’ve never even told anyone that you like them.”  _ You’d be surprised.  _ But he’s right. She’s not the person to tell someone how to handle their crushes. It's sad how upset that fact makes her. 

“Hey, Piper.” Piper looks up and of fucking course it’s Jason Grace. Her face falls and her shoulders droop. Not even a very crowded public place can save her. 

“Well, I guess that’s my cue to leave,” Leo says. He stands up and grabs his backpack. No. Leo can’t leave in Piper’s time of crisis. But he doesn’t even know that she’s in a crisis. This entire letter business is already kicking her in the ass, and it’s only been a couple of days. 

“Where are you even going?” Piper asks, a silent plea in her question. 

Leo shrugs. “Maybe the pet store.” 

That little shit. If he’s abandoning her, he better be going to the pet store. 

Jason takes a seat and Piper is taken back to the school bathroom, the sound of her heart drowning everything out. He doesn’t have his glasses on, which is a shame. He looks better with glasses. 

“About the other day...” he starts. His ears are a bright red and Piper wants to laugh. At least she’s not the only mortified one here. 

“Before you say anything, I just need you to know that I’m not trying to date you.” Jason looks like a confused puppy and it’s weirdly adorable. He opens his mouth to say something, but Piper cuts him off. “I only kissed you because I was trying to convince someone else that I’m not interested in them.” 

It’s clear Jason practiced a whole speech that would let her down gently and Piper just ruined it. Why does he have to be so cute? If only he didn’t have a heart of gold. If he was an asshole, Piper wouldn’t feel so bad. 

“Who? Did they get a letter too?” Jason asks. Screw being responsible, let Piper run away from her problems. The urge to cry has been pestering her since  Silena left, but she thinks now is when she’ll  actually cry . 

“Charlie Beckendorf,” she says, barely audible. Jason leans closer to hear her and Piper wants to lean back. But instead she repeats herself and slumps over on the table. 

“Doesn’t he date your sister?” Jason asks. She can feel him being beyond judgmental and it makes her want to sink into the floor. 

It’s not like she ever acted on her feelings. She didn’t even send the letters; someone else did. He’s not allowed to be  judgy before he knows all the details. 

“Well, he-he  _ dated _ her, like in the past tense,” Piper forces out. Being at home would’ve been so nice compared to this conversation. Maybe she just shouldn’t talk to people anymore. Yeah, that sounds smart. 

“So, you kissed me because you didn’t want your sister’s ex-boyfriend to think that you want to get with him?” 

“Please don’t say ‘get with him’ ever again.” Jason laughs and Piper can’t help but laugh with him. Maybe it wouldn’t be the worst thing ever if she liked him again. 

Wait. She has an idea. A terrible, awful, dumb idea. 

“What if we pretended to date.” 

* * *

Jason and Piper manage to come up with five easy-to-remember rules for their fake relationship, with a lot of complaining from Piper. What kind of nerd makes up rules for a pretend relationship?  

1) No kissing (on the cheek is fine). 

_“I’ve never been in a relationship before. I don’t want all of my firsts to be fake.”_ Piper had said. Jason almost looked disappointed, which Piper promised not to think too hard about or else she’d go insane. 

2) Piper is to go to all of Jason’s lacrosse games and is to go to parties with him when she feels like it. 

_ “Do you ever actually leave the house?”  _ Jason had teased when she added the ‘when she feels like it’ part. 

_ “Sorry I’m not  _ _ popular  _ _ like you,  _ _ Glinda _ _ ,”  _ Piper teased back , proud of her  _ Wicked  _ reference . She's finding out that she really likes to make Jason laugh. 

3) Jason is to drive Piper and her sister to and from school every day. 

He didn’t complain about that rule,  definitely remembering when Piper almost ran him over.

4) The relationship will end after the student council’s annual beach trip. 

_ “Why the beach trip? That's in March; do you think we’ll still be together by then?”  _ Piper had asked. She's positive that Jason had blushed when she asked. 

_ “I never have a plus one, so it can be like a last hurra _ _ h _ _. And then we can have a huge fight and break up in front of everyone.”  _ Piper almost cackled like Drew at that. 

5) No one is to know the relationship is fake. 

No complaints from either party; it preserves both Piper and Jason’s dignity. 

There is one more rule though. A rule that Piper keeps a secret. _Piper is not allowed to_ _fall in love with Jason under any circumstances._

* * *

 

There is no one scarier than Annabeth Chase. There is nothing scarier when she approaches you out of the blue with the love letter that you addressed to her boyfriend. 

“You wrote this for Percy?” Piper got let out of her class earlier, so at least no one can watch Annabeth  completely destroy her. 

She’s opening and closing her mouth like a fish, hoping for any word at all. 

“This is fucking hilarious, McLean. You should’ve seen how red his face got.” What? Annabeth is  _ laughing.  _ And not punching Piper in the face. 

“You-you’re not mad?” Piper asks, astonished. Now Annabeth is confused.

“Why would I be mad?” Because, as much as Piper loves Annabeth, she can get crazy jealous. But Piper does love the fact that the possibility of Piper having feelings for Percy makes Annabeth laugh so fucking hard. 

“No reason.” Piper’s laugh is awkward to say the least. Annabeth throws her arm over Piper’s shoulders and they walk to the cafeteria together. 

For as long as Piper has known Annabeth they’ve never truly, properly hung out as friends. Annabeth has always been Percy’s friend in Piper’s mind, not really  _ her _ friend. She should  definitely work on changing that. 

They walk into the cafeteria and everyone is staring at Piper. Why are they staring? Does her outfit look as tacky as Drew said it does? 

She hears whispers of  _ Jason Grace  _ and  _ are they dating?  _ Does everyone know now? They literally started ‘dating’ a day ago; how did everyone find out? 

Piper’s heart is beating against her ribcage, threatening to break free. Of course, they’re all talking about her. She’s dating the school’s golden boy now. 

To make everything five billion times worse,  Khione is staring at her with the coldest glare Piper has ever seen.  Khione , Jason’s ex-girlfriend from freshman through sophomore year, who refuses to get over him. The girl who puts other girls down  in an attempt to look cool in front of boys; the girl who treats everyone like they’re her competition. And she knows Piper and Jason are dating. 

_ Fuck me.  _


	3. burning through the hours talking

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Listen, you’re right; I am hiding something from you.” Piper waits, takes a breath, and says, “I’m pretending to date Jason Grace so my sister won’t find out I sent a love letter to her ex-boyfriend.” 
> 
> “Piper, what the fuck?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> finally a new chapter! sorry it's been so long, i've been so busy with school and everything coming to a close. hopefully i can get the next chapter out sooner

_September_  

 

The ice in Khione’s eyes melts into an obviously fake smile.  

She motions for Piper and Annabeth to sit down, and Piper knows she’s about to be ripped to shreds.  

Piper’s not necessarily scared of Khione; she’s gone head to head with her before, but that’s when she had Silena in her corner, and she wasn’t dating her opponent’s ex. But even when her sister was there with her, every battle had made Piper feel slightly inferior afterwards.  

Now, Khione will be able to see right through her; she’ll see the lies.  

Annabeth subtly pushes Piper forward and they sit down.  

“Oh my goodness, Piper, I heard you’re dating Jason now.” Annabeth looks at Piper, eyebrows raised. She doesn’t know, of course. Her “brilliant plan” is already a disaster. Piper gives her a look: _I’ll tell you later._  

“Yeah, um, we officially started going out this past weekend actually,” Piper stammers, feeling awkwardly formal. She hopes she doesn’t sound as uncomfortable as she feels. “Uh, how did you find out?”  

Khione’s smile is so smug that Piper thinks she was hoping Piper would ask her.  

“Jason told me, of course. We were at that coffee shop near my house and he told me you two were at the mall together.”  

 _He still hangs out with his_ _ex?_  

It bothers Piper more than it probably should.  

“Well, I personally think he could do better, but you’re not completely hideous,” Khione says. She says it so casually that it takes a second for Piper to realize that she was just insulted.  

“I think we should get goi-” Annabeth starts to say, taking Piper’s hand. Thank god for Annabeth Fucking Chase.  

“Wait a second, Goldilocks,” Khione interrupts, stunning Annabeth into silence. “I’m throwing a party tonight and I want you and Jason to be there,” she says to Piper. Her gaze moves to Annabeth and adds, “You can come too, Chase. Be sure to bring Percy; I’d love to see him.”  

A party. Piper was just invited to a party by the second scariest person in the world. She was invited by her fake boyfriend’s ex. Who throws a party on a Monday?  

Piper feels stuck in a weird sort of limbo, not wanting to stay but not able to find the courage to move; Annabeth’s hand is still in her own, and she can’t feel her legs.  

Khione looks up from her phone and shoos the two off.  

Piper almost runs from the cafeteria.  

* * *

Piper’s trying to figure out a French recipe that Silena had sent her when she hears a knock at the front door.  

She’s surprised to see Jason on her porch, who looks just as surprised to see her in an apron with flour covering half her face. 

“What are doing here?” she asks. Do they have a fake date she forgot about?  

“I’m picking you up for Khione’s party,” he replies, like it’s obvious. Piper almost laughs.  

“I’m not going to that.” Piper walks back to her kitchen, leaving Jason in the doorway. She hears the door close and Jason’s suddenly next to her. Why does he have to be so tall? He could walk across the lacrosse field faster than Piper can run.  

The kitchen counter is almost covered in the same amount of flour that Piper is. Silena’s recipe calls for five cups of flour which is insane, but Piper wants to show her sister that she can and will successfully bake something.  

“Did the Pillsbury doughboy die in here or something?” Jason asks. Piper mixes in some vanilla extract (the recipe didn’t even say how much, just ‘some’) and pretends to laugh.  

“Silena sent me a recipe from France. Her exact words were ‘you are the only person in the house I trust to bake’ so I have at least some hope.” Jason throws his head back and laughs. Piper feels her cheeks heat up slightly.  

She still doesn’t exactly know how basically everyone at school knows how they’re “dating” now, but it’s not the most embarrassing thing that could happen to her. Sure, people might say that Jason could do better or it just “doesn’t add up” but it’s something that Piper will be able to survive.  

“So why won’t you go to the party?” Jason asks, all humor gone. It’s always somewhat amazed Piper how easily he could go from laughing to serious in a split second.  

The truth: she doesn’t want to be in the same room as his ex and her friends when all they’ll do is ridicule her. But she can’t exactly say that when Jason still voluntarily hangs out and talks with Khione.  

“I just don’t feel like it,” Piper says, voice going quiet. “That was in the contract; I don’t have to go to parties if I don’t feel like it.”  

Jason looks at her with pity in his eyes, and Piper hates it. She’s not some loner that needs to be coddled. She didn’t insinuate a relationship with him just so he can feel bad for her.  

“I won’t let Khione bully you. I’ll stay by your side the entire time.”  

Piper wants to lash out, say she doesn’t need a knight in shining armor. But that’s not the point of his promise. He knows she can take care of herself; he’s saying that for tonight she won’t have to.  

She’s fighting off a small smile when she says, “Fine, I’ll go.” Jason’s smile could put the fucking sun to shame.  

Piper leaves to get cleaned up but feels weird just leaving him in her living room. However, keeping him in her room is out of the question.  

She’s in the middle of scrubbing flour out of her hair when she hears a shrill ‘Piper!’ from downstairs. Her beloved baby sister is home.  

“Piper, why is there a guy in our living room?” Drew says, running into the bathroom. The last time Drew asked that question was when they first met Charlie around four years ago.   

“Um well I guess you could say that he’s my boyfriend and he’s taking me to a party,” Piper rushes out, patting dry the wet spots in her hair. Maybe if she just doesn’t look at Drew she’ll disappear.  

It doesn’t work. Drew’s eyes almost pop out of her head. 

“Party? _Boyfriend?_ ” Drew screeches so loud that Jason definitely heard. “Okay, I have to lay some ground rules with that boy,” she says, stomping out of the bathroom.  

Honestly, Piper doesn’t mind that. She’d rather it be Drew than Silena. Or worse... her father.  

Once all the flour is off her, Piper digs through a drawer of hair accessories, hoping to find a hair tie in the mess. There’s some of Silena’s old scrunchies that she left behind, a headband inlaid with diamonds that Drew got by catfishing a girl on Etsy, and... 

Piper takes a velvet ruby red ribbon out of the drawer. One of two things that her mother gave her that has any true value.  

 _“This ribbon was given to me by my mother, who got it from her mother. It’s been from my hometown in Japan, to my apartment_ _in_ _France, and now it’s found its way to you,”_ her mother had told her when she was seven. Piper had been crying about how she didn’t have an accessory like her sisters for a neighbor’s wedding.  

 _“It’s usually passed down from the mother to the eldest daughter, but I think you’d appreciate it more.”_ And she was right. Piper had only worn the ribbon on the day she got it, too scared that she’d ruin it somehow.  

 _“I get to keep it?”_ Piper had asked, stars in her eyes. Her mother nodded, tied the ribbon around the end of Piper’s braid. Fetus Drew’s jaw had dropped when she saw it; her father had commented how much Piper looked like her mother, something that Piper hated as the years went by.  

That ribbon made her feel like she was special, that she was the most important person in the room. Sometimes Piper thinks her mother would have stayed if she had worn it more.  

Maybe this party might be Piper’s chance to show people that she does deserve Jason, that she’s worth it. Piper knows that her value isn’t measured by what she wears or what people think of her, but at the same time it would feel nice to be special again. Just for tonight.  

A full ten minutes later, Piper walks into the living room. Drew stops talking midsentence and Jason stands up. Piper can only describe his expression as slack-jawed. 

Piper’s hair is half up half down, the ribbon keeping it secure. She stole an old, white skirt of Silena’s from Drew’s closet, half praying that Drew won’t notice or care. She paired it with a shirt she found at a thrift store, light yellow with the words _my lucky party shirt_ in black. It’s cute and simple; the skirt even has pockets.  

(If Piper’s being honest, she’s been waiting to wear her lucky party shirt ever since she got it the summer before sophomore year.)  

The full weight of Jason’s gaze makes Piper feel flustered and slightly claustrophobic.  

“Is that my skirt?” Drew asks, and Jason looks away from her. Piper just shrugs, shoves her hands in the pockets. “At least you matched your shoes for fucking once in your life.”  

Jason clears his throat, pushes up his glasses.  

“Should we go now?” Piper asks. He nods, holds out his hand. Is she supposed to take it? Is that their thing now? Drew’s watching so it would be weird if she didn’t take his hand.  

Piper takes his hand, lacing their fingers together. It upsets her how nice it feels to just hold his goddamn hand.  

“Remember the rules!” Drew calls after them.  

“Don’t worry, I’ll have her home no later than ten,” Jason replies.  

They leave her house still holding hands. Piper can feel hers getting sweaty already but doesn’t know if she should pull away or not.  

Piper hears her name being called and looks over to see Charlie Beckendorf. Piper quickly lets go of Jason’s hand, stuffs them back into her pockets.  

“I’ll wait in the car if you want to talk to him,” Jason mutters. Does he sound... disappointed? No, that’s stupid. He knows that Piper doesn’t have feelings for Charlie anymore, and it doesn’t even matter. Because it’s all fake.  

“Hey, Charlie,” Piper says. She didn’t even realize how much she missed him until this exact moment. Can she miss someone who lives right next door?  

“Am I going crazy or are you wearing decent clothes?” Piper laughs, feeling her face warm up.  

“Yeah, um, Jason’s taking me to a party actually.” Charlie’s eyes go wide, and he looks over to Jason’s car.  

“Wow, when did you become Silena?” he jokingly asks. The joke doesn’t land though; they’re both stunned into an awkward silence. A pause and then, “Hey, can we talk? About the lett-”  

“Maybe later,” Piper interrupts. “I don’t want to keep my boyfriend waiting.” She emphasizes on the ‘my boyfriend’ part. It hurts her more than she thought it would to just lie to his face. Maybe the feelings you have for someone never truly go away.  

“Right, yeah. I’ll just talk to you later.” And just like that, Piper has driven away her best friend. Again.  

* * *

By the time Jason pulls into the driveway, Piper already wants to leave. She can feel herself becoming sweaty, wishing she put on more deodorant.  

Maybe she can just stay on her phone the entire night; that’s what she does at family parties and no one tries to talk to her. _No,_ she thinks, _Jason said he’d stay with you the whole time. No need to be anti-social._  

Jason gets out of the car and opens the door for her. It all feels strangely chivalrous, like Jason wants to do whatever he can to impress her. That doesn’t make sense though; she’s seen him spill multiple things on his chemistry notes and hit his head numerous times, there’s no impressing her anymore.  

“I’m pretty sure Annabeth and Percy are coming, so you won’t have to be stuck with just me the entire night,” Jason says, and chuckles.  

“Maybe I want to be stuck with just you,” Piper replies. She immediately regrets it, about to say that something took over her brain and made her say it, but Jason smiles and takes her hand again.  

 _So_ _this is what dating is like._   

They make it into Khione’s house with no incidents, so Piper’s already feeling optimistic. But then they see Khione.  

“Oh my god! You two made it.” Piper can hear the fakeness in her voice and already wants to vomit. Khione doesn’t even look at Piper. She only has eyes for Jason.  

“Your house is really nice,” Piper says, forcing Khione to acknowledge her. It barely works, which annoys Piper to no end. Jason’s dating _her_ now, why can’t Khione see that?  

Is this what jealousy feels like? Piper’s been jealous before, but it’s never felt like this. She can feel the envy clawing up her throat, threatening to break free in the form of some comment that drips with malice. But Piper was taught to only attack when it’s in defense. Khione technically hasn’t done anything wrong... yet.  

“Piper!” a voice shouts, and the envy retreats down into Piper’s stomach. Out of sight, out of mind.  

“Percy!” Piper replies upon seeing her childhood best friend. He’s holding hands with Annabeth, who lets go to give Piper a hug. Piper has to go on her tiptoes to properly hug Annabeth, but it feels natural, like they’ve been this close their whole lives.  

Jason clears his throat, and Percy almost tackles him.  

“So, Grace is your boyfriend now?” Annabeth says, low enough that only Piper can hear. Piper blushes, realizes that Annabeth is teasing her.  

An upbeat song comes on over the speakers and Percy takes Annabeth’s hand to drag her onto the makeshift dance floor. Piper doesn’t know the words, but she knows that Silena used to sing it all the time.  

Why does every little thing remind her of her sister? 

“Want to dance?” Jason asks. He’s holding out his hand, a soft smile on his face that tugs on Piper’s heartstrings. She nods, not trusting her voice.  

They go onto the dancefloor, and Jason spins her around. It leaves Piper disoriented for half a second, but she regains her balance. She feels light on her feet, and it’s possibly the first time she’s felt light in weeks. Piper finds that it’s very easy to be comfortable around Jason, like it’s second nature.  

The song transitions into something slower, calmer. Piper’s heart decides to do the opposite and speeds up in her chest. She’s too scared to look at Jason. Would he want to slow dance with her? She feels her hands getting sweaty and pulls away. She’s almost disappointed that Jason so willingly lets her go.   

“I’m gonna get something to drink,” Piper says, almost shouting over the music. He nods, stuffs his hands in his pockets. The light feeling in her chest has turned into a lump in the pit of her stomach, right next to her jealousy.  

Piper finds a quiet corner and just lets herself breathe. She pulls out her phone to find a text from Leo. 

 **[7:47 pm] I'm almost positive that you’re hiding something from me but I don’t want to assume so tell me right now before I go insane**  

Piper almost laughs out loud; then guilt is added to all the other emotions she’s feeling all at once. Why does a social life have to come with so many different feelings?  

 **[7:50 pm] I'll call you later**  

 **[7:50 pm] at some family thing but I'll be home soon**  

It’s very disappointing how easy it is to casually lie to everyone she knows.  

* * *

Piper hides for a few minutes before going back into the belly of the beast. Except the beast hasn’t made another appearance, so it’s not too bad.  

“Piper? Why aren’t you with Jason?” Shit, fuck, shit. Khione has a stupid smirk on her stupid face. She has two cups in her hands, no doubt some sort of alcohol.  

“Well, unlike some people, my entire life doesn’t revolve around the people I date,” Piper replies. Khione’s smirk morphs into a scowl.  

“More like _person_ ,” she growls under her breath. Her comment hurts Piper more than she would ever admit. They stand in an uncomfortable silence until Khione thrusts a cup towards Piper and says, “I was going to give this to some innocent freshman, but you’ll have to do.”  

Now that Piper can actually see and smell the contents of the cup, it’s definitely alcohol.  

“Oh, I don-”  

“If you finish that sentence with drink then I'm legally kicking you out of my house.” Piper accepts the cup and takes a sip. She immediately wants to throw up, but she’s in one-on-one combat mode and can’t afford to take any damage.  

Piper wishes she could fully understand why Khione terrifies her as much as she does, but Piper doesn’t have a clue. Khione has always fought dirty – being raised by a single father and two dimwitted brothers can do that to you – but after her breakup with Jason, she’s been more mean than cunning, more outright terrible than trying to hide her disgust for people. Maybe some people’s worlds really _do_ revolve around their significant other.  

Another upbeat song comes on, and Piper sees Jason across the room. He doesn’t see her, but she’s assuming he’s looking for her. _Wow, that sounded very self-absorbed._ But he did ask her to dance last time, so maybe he wants to ask her again. The thought of being that close to him again almost terrifies Piper. So, she chugs the contents of her cup and looks for another.  

* * *

Piper can’t think straight. Well, she can never think straight, but this time it’s not because girls are so fucking pretty. She’s had almost three cups of whatever Khione gave her earlier, and she’s pretty sure this is what death feels like. But she also feels alive. It’s been a weird night.  

“Piper!”  

Can she just catch a break for once?  

Jason is suddenly by her side and has to practically carry her before she topples to the ground.  

Piper feels like shit and most certainly looks like it too. Her hair is a mess, the ribbon looking like a streak of red among the dark brown. Her legs are chaffing from her stupid skirt and she somehow lost one of her shoes.  

“Okay, let’s get you home now,” Jason says, his hand in hers. Piper whines about how she needs to dance to one more song and that she needs to find her shoe.  

“Here, hold this,” Piper mumbles, fully taking the ribbon out and sloppily tying it around Jason’s wrist. She then goes to where the drinks are and finds her shoe under the table. “Okay, let’s go.” Jason just chuckles and takes her hand again. 

The car ride home makes Piper want to throw up, but Jason’s car is way too nice. His windows are down, and the cool air feels nice on Piper’s face.  

“What happened to her?” Piper hears Drew’s voice. She can’t hear Jason’s response, but Drew laughs so he was definitely teasing her. She just wants to take a twenty-four-hour nap.  

Jason opens the car door for her, and Drew wraps Piper’s arm around her shoulders. It takes all of her willpower to not throw up on her lawn.  

“Well, thank you for getting her home safely. If she ever got lost, I would have to be the one who makes lunches.” Piper smiles at that.  

As soon as Piper’s in her bed, her eyes are closed and she’s asleep.  

* * *

The sun streams through Piper’s bedroom window. It's beautiful but makes Piper’s head hurt. She feels like shit.  

Drew pops her head into Piper’s room and says, “I called the school and said you’re staying home sick.”  

Piper mumbles a thank you and chugs water from the glass on her bedside table.  

Her phone buzzes, shows two missed calls from Leo and a text from Jason. _Oh crap._  

 **[7:56 am] I'm assuming you’re staying home so I'll send you notes later**  

 **[7:57 am] aw thanks babe <3 ** 

 **[7:57 am] tell drew that I'll buy her coffee after school as a thank you**  

 **[7:58 am] hey you cannot steal my sister away from me I have legal claim**  

Now to deal with Leo.  

“Hello?” his voice is groggy, and Piper assumes that her calling him is what woke him up. 

“Leo, I’m sorry I forgot to call you last night.”  

Leo laughs and says, “Well, you sound worse than I do so apology accepted.  

“Listen, you’re right; I am hiding something from you.” Piper waits, takes a breath, and says, “I’m pretending to date Jason Grace so my sister won’t find out I sent a love letter to her ex-boyfriend.”  

“Piper, what the fuck?”  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> my tumblr is @cressisaqueen


	4. i'd stay for a long time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Piper wonders if this is the end of their whole ruse, if she should come clean to everyone now. They obviously don't suspect anything though, maybe she can buy herself some time to think of an explanation. 
> 
> However, another terrible thought strikes Piper right where she stands: Jason's going to meet her dad.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> guess who finally FUCKING UPDATED I'm so sorry it took so long, i've literally had so much free time to finish this earlier but summer depression ya know
> 
> also next chapter will probably be the last one as i'm close to wrapping everything up
> 
> thank you all for the support and kudos it's so nice!

_ September  _

The Wednesday after  Khione’s party, Piper asks Jason and Leo to meet at Leo’s  abuelo’s bakery. Mostly so she can eat unlimited  _ pan dulce _ , but also so she can explain herself. 

“So, we’re coming clean to Valdez?” Jason asks, tearing off a piece of Piper’s  _ pan dulce _ . She smacks his hand away, eyes on the door. 

“Well he’s my best friend,” Piper says, taking a sip of water.

“Okay, but Percy’s my best friend, so shouldn’t we tell him too?” Piper had considered that, but then she concluded that telling Percy meant telling Annabeth and then she would know that Piper had lied. Annabeth’s not too big on broken promises and lies. 

“He can’t keep a secret to save his life, so if we told him then the entire school would know by Friday.” Jason nods in agreement. “The less people that know, the better.” 

Leo walks in the door, waves to Piper and Jason, and sits down across from the two. He has a big smile on his face. Piper looks at Jason, eyebrow raised. He just shrugs and Piper returns her gaze to Leo. 

“What are you on?” Piper asks after no one speaks for a solid minute. Leo seems to snap out of his stupor, takes some of Piper’s food. 

“I’m high on life baby,” Leo says, steals her cup of water. Piper whines in protest, while Jason just laughs at her suffering. 

“What does that even mean?” Piper asks, throwing a wad up napkin at Leo. He’s acting weirder than usual, which isn’t helping her nerves. This meeting was supposed to let her explain herself, put her feelings into words. Not that she  actually understands her feelings, but still. 

“It means I’m going on a date,” Leo says.  _ Oh _ . Piper processes what he said.  _ OH _ . 

“ _ What _ ?” Piper practically screeches, and the whole bakery shushes her. Jason covers his face with his hands, failing to conceal his laughter.  “You mean you actually got the courage to talk to him?” 

Leo’s glowing, like he got free pizza or something. Piper forgets the whole reason she asked him to meet her now, too happy/bewildered/semi-confused to remember. 

Jason’s laughter reminds her. 

Crap on the cob. 

“Not only did I talk to him, I also gave him my number. Which he used to call me and ask me out,” Leo says. He takes another sip of Piper’s water, presumably to make his face less red.

She’s so happy for him, she is. But she’s also slightly jealous. Not that Piper would admit that to anyone; she just wants something real too. 

“When are you going out?” Jason asks, takes Piper’s hand under the table.  She wishes this could be her something real . 

“This Friday,” Leo says, beaming. Then, “Wait why are you here again?” Jason doesn’t seem to be offended, he just looks at Piper and smiles. Leo looks from Jason to Piper, putting the pieces together. 

“Remember our phone call yesterday? We’re here to explain.” Leo nods, obviously trying to be serious for Piper’s sake. It would be sweet of him if he wasn’t stealing more of her food in the process. 

Piper explains the love letters, how Charlie ended up with one, how  Silena can never know. How she needs to show that she no longer has feelings for Charlie by pretending to date Jason. 

“Why lie though? Why not just tell Charlie that you don’t like him anymore?” Leo asks. Piper’s asked herself that multiple times in the past few days. There’s no real reason for her not to talk to Charlie but doing so means putting her heart on the line. She knows he’ll reject her (not that it  really  matters to her anymore) because he loves her sister. And then Piper will lose him.

She’s kind of lost him already though. 

“It’s complicated.” 

“Everything is complicated, Pipes. If you’re honest then at least you tried.” Leo may be a dumbass sometimes, but he has real wisdom. 

Too bad Piper refuses to listen to him.

* * *

Piper has the house to herself when Charlie  decides to visit.  

“Can we talk?” he asks, leaning against their shared fence. Piper’s mind immediately goes to  _ pivot, walk away.  _ But she owes him an explanation. 

“Sure.” 

Charlie hops the fence and Piper leads him into the kitchen, pouring him a glass of water. 

He mutters a thanks, leans against a counter. Piper hoists herself on the counter across from him, just looking at him. He looks so different from a few days ago, like his world collapsed. Piper knows the feeling. 

“Listen, those things I wrote in the letter... that was so long ago.”

“Well, those feelings are new to me. I didn’t know how I felt until now .”  Wait what?  Is he implying what Piper thinks he’s implying? No, no because he loves her sister. A love letter isn’t going to change that. Piper won’t let it. 

“You should just forget everything. I’ve moved on and so should you.” 

“How can I? First, my girlfriend dumps me because we’re too far away, and now my best friend is pushing me away because we’re too close.” 

“How are we too close? I haven’t seen you in days.” Piper feels tears coming on. She won’t be the girl who cries over a stupid boy. Only, Charlie’s not a stupid boy. 

“And whose fault is that? I keep trying to talk to you, but you just push me away,” Charlie says, his voice rising. Piper remembers how her parents used to fight like this, before her mom left. When her dad wasn’t as absent, but still gone. They were both tired of each other, tired of fighting so her mom said-

“If I knew I’d end up losing you like this, then I never would’ve-” 

“Shut up,” Piper cuts Charlie off. “Don’t you dare finish that sentence.” She can’t stop the tears now. 

_ If I knew I'd end up losing you like this, then I never would’ve stuck around in the first place.  _

Her mother hadn’t meant it, apologized profusely days after. But a month after that fight she left, ran off with another man. Never looked back. 

Charlie looks guilty, but it’s too late. The  damage has been done. 

“I think you should go.” Charlie opens his mouth to protest, apologize, but he knows better than to argue and leaves. And just like that, another person she cares about, gone. 

She spends the rest of the day listening to breakup songs. 

* * *

_ December _

Five months. Five months of Jason driving Piper and Drew to school; five months of study sessions which ended up just being  _ Gilmore Girls  _ marathons; five months of sitting with his friends and watching as they slowly become Piper’s friends too. Five months of double ‘dates’ with Leo and Frank, and then Annabeth and Percy tagging along as well. 

She’s managed to not make a fool of herself in front of his family (no dad, only a mom and sister. Jason hadn’t looked too upset when she asked about it, just mumbled something about how they’re better off without him. She didn’t believe it for a second but didn’t say anything for his sake.) in that time as well. It’s almost a miracle that Piper hasn’t had a mental breakdown yet.  

But she doesn’t think she can go on any longer. 

Not because she’s getting tired of Jason or their so-called relationship. The exact  opposite actually . She’s getting too comfortable.  And when she gets comfortable, people leave. 

“And you’re sure you have to break up?” Leo asks, helping Piper make Christmas cookies. Well, eating the dough more than helping bake it. 

“We made a deal,” Piper says, mixing in more chocolate chips than necessary. “We’re going to break up at that stupid student council beach trip. It’s all part of my plan.” 

“Since when did you ever have a plan for this whole thing?” Piper sticks her tongue out, not wanting to let Leo know he’s  technically right. 

She never actually did have a plan. It was just some impulsive thing she spat out so she wouldn’t embarrass herself further. Obviously, that didn’t work as now she can’t look at Charlie without wanting to burst into  flames and holding hands with Jason in public just makes her want to go home and hide. 

God, why is she such a coward? She never should’ve written those letters. 

However, those letters brought her close to people she’s kept at a rm’s length . If it weren’t for the letters, she would’ve never gotten close to Annabeth and she never would’ve gotten closure with both Will and Percy. She does have  Khione breathing down her neck sometimes, but Piper can handle her. 

“You do realize he likes you too, right?” Leo says after a moment, shoving more cookie dough into his mouth. Piper freezes, hand on the oven handle. The heat of the oven is only making her blush worse. 

Jason could not possibly like her. She doesn’t even like  _ him _ , at least not like that. Well... He is  really sweet ; he respects her boundaries; he doesn’t think her family is crazy because his is too. They have more in common than Piper would like to think. It wouldn’t be the worst thing if she liked him. 

_It would never work out._ The voice in her head sounds strangely like Silena’s, ever the realist. But the dreamer part of Silena – the _real_ Silena -  would tell Piper to go for it, to take the risk because it just might work out. 

_ He would just leave.  _ Now the voice is her father’s, which is  its own problem that Piper doesn’t have time for right now. 

_ But he might be worth putting your heart on the line.  _ She doesn’t know whose voice that is, maybe her own. 

The sound of the oven beeping brings Piper back to reality. 

She can’t like Jason because he won’t like her back, no matter what Leo says. He has a boyfriend, he’s not one to talk anymore. 

“He doesn’t like me, trust me.” Leo groans and rolls his eyes.

“Pipes, he wouldn’t do all of this if he didn’t like you. Besides you don’t see how he looks at you. I do, and it’s disgusting.” Piper’s smile is small but the blush on her cheeks make up for it. 

Drew would say that Piper’s being stupid and to just tell Jason how she feels. Except Piper doesn’t know how she feels, not about Jason and not about Charlie. She can’t explain what she’s feeling when she doesn’t even know. 

“Piper,” Leo says, growing serious, “he makes you happy, that’s for sure. Don’t make yourself miserable by thinking it’ll never happen.” 

Piper just shakes her head. She can’t break her own rule. She’ll break every other rule in  existence before breaking her own.  

* * *

It’s a couple days before Christmas when Piper’s dad sits her, Drew, and  Silena (back from France and glued to her younger sisters’ sides) on the couch. It’s the most serious he’s ever looked, save for when their mom had left, and he was the one who had to tell them. 

“I want to start by saying that I know I haven’t been as involved in your lives as I should’ve been,” her dad says. Drew snorts as if to say _you_ _think?_ Silena elbows her and her dad sends her a grateful look. 

Piper can’t help but agree with Drew, though. When they lost one parent, they shouldn’t have lost another.  Silena didn’t deserve to be thrusted into the position of parent because theirs didn’t feel like being one. 

“ So, I thought it would be nice if Christmas was just us this year. No extravagant work parties, no work anything. This will be  our  celebration.” 

The three McLean girls share a look and they know that their dad is actively  making an effort  to be a dad now. It may have taken him a few years, but he’s trying and that’s starting to make up for it. 

* * *

Christmas used to be Piper’s favorite time of the year: the snow, the multicolored lights, and most especially all the different treats. 

As she grew older, it was still the best time of year, but it was tainted. Like it wasn’t the same as it used to be. Piper would just shake the feeling though, happy to be with her sisters and friends. 

Now, with her dad and sisters surrounding her, sipping hot chocolate and coffee, watching Will Ferrell hop down the streets of New York, it feels like Christmas again. 

It's almost five in the morning when Piper wakes up on the couch, hot chocolate cold, and the living room deserted. 

Her phone buzzes:

** [4:56 am] loser valdez: merry christmas bitches **

It’s from Leo, because of course he’s awake at five in the morning on Christmas. Multiple people in their group chat start typing, but Piper’s  too happy to care that she’s up this early. It’s finally Christmas again. 

** [4:57 am] merry  ** ** xmas ** ** babey <3 **

Piper texts to Jason. They only give each other pet names when they’re teasing, which is basically all the time. Piper thinks that if Jason ever seriously called her a pet name, she’d combust. 

Piper can vaguely see snow start to fall outside and is asleep again before she can read Jason’s reply. 

* * *

Silena is arguably Piper’s favorite person now. (Not that she was never not Piper’s favorite person.) She’s given Piper and Drew beautiful friendship bracelets from Paris that say sister in French. Piper seriously might cry. 

Drew gives Piper a skateboard, something that Piper has wanted for the longest time but never could comit to. She’d break her arm or something and never want to ride again. Luckily, Drew also gave her giant band aids and a helmet lined with bubble wrap. 

“In case your skateboarding is as bad as your driving,” Drew says as Piper unwraps the gift. 

Her dad gives her an old, vintage camera and tons of film.  Engraved on the side are the words  _ T + A 4 ever.  _ It’s corny and ironic, but also the best gift Piper has ever received. 

“It was your mother’s,” her dad says as her sisters unwrap their own gifts. Piper’s  actually in tears now as she hugs her dad. “You remind me so much of her. You’re both determined and vivacious. You both love with all your heart. She would love who you’ve become, Piper.” 

It’s safe to say that this is officially the best Christmas ever. 

* * *

“Who should we invite to the New Year’s party?”  Silena asks, pencil in hand and ready to make the guestlist. 

“No work friends,” Drew says, looking at their dad. He puts his hands up in surrender, not even bothering to argue. 

“And no Charlie,” Piper says, winking at  Silena . While it is to spare  Silena and the rest of the guests from two moody exes, it’s also to spare  Silena the explanation of the whole letter business. 

Drew gasps and rounds on Piper. “Invite Jason! He hasn’t met Dad or  Silena yet.” 

Piper sends her sister a death glare as both her dad and  Silena ask who Jason is. 

“Just Piper’s  _ boyfriend _ ,” Drew says, and Piper might have to strangle her a little bit.  Silena’s eyebrows disappear into her hairline and her dad is beyond silent. Piper wants to die on the spot. 

“Why didn’t you tell me you have a boyfriend?”  Silena asks as her dad  practically shouts, “Why don’t I know anything about this boyfriend?” 

Drew better pray that she survives to New Year’s. 

It feels like an eternity has gone by  by the time anyone speaks again. 

“Well, Dad you were never around so you never met him, and  Silena you were just so busy with school I didn’t want to distract you.” It sounds like the big lie that it is, and Piper wants to leave immediately. But Silena and her dad accept Piper’s answer and continue to sip their coffee. 

Piper wonders if this is the end of their whole ruse, if she should come clean to everyone now. They obviously don’t suspect anything though, maybe she can buy herself some time to think of an explanation. 

However, another terrible thought strikes Piper right where she stands: Jason’s going to meet her dad. 

Piper should just throw herself off the roof while she has the chance. 

It’s not like he won’t understand that her family is insane though. He already knows the whole mom leaving backstory. And now that Tristan McLean is in his daughters’ lives again, it might be easier. At least easier than when  Silena came home with Charlie for the first time. 

Maybe she can come to terms with her feelings too. If Jason is around her family, maybe she can understand just how she feels about him. 

This might not be a disaster after all.

** [11:27 am] would you be willing to come to my family’s new year’s party?? there will be free food and you can meet my older sister **

** [11:29 am] I would love to, but I have other plans. I'm  ** ** really sorry ** ** pipes, I'll make it up to you.  **

She spoke too soon  apparently . 

She texts back a ‘don’t worry about it, I’m totally not upset in the slightest because we’re not actually dating’ text and tells her family the tragic news. 

“No!”  Silena and Drew shout. Her dad is surprisingly fine, not really worried about not meeting the boy who (he thinks) has been making out with his daughter. 

They end up adding Leo and Annabeth as Piper’s guests, two girls (Sadie and Hazel) from Drew’s grade, and some of  Silena’s friends that stayed for school. Their dad insists on inviting his assistant, which the three girls allow despite it breaking the ‘no work friends’ rule. It’s not the biggest party they’ve ever thrown, but it’s enough for this year. It’s enough for right now. 

* * *

** [11:49 pm] bananabeth: leo’s basically drunk right now and it’s so fucking funny **

Annabeth sends a video of Leo slow dancing to All I Want  For Christmas Is You to their group chat and Piper has tears in her eyes. So far New Year’s hasn’t been terrible, it’s  actually been beyond fun. 

**[11:50 pm]** **frankie** **zhang** **: god I love him so much**

Piper and Annabeth ‘aww’ and watch Leo’s face turn a bright shade of red as he checks his phone. 

Piper honestly loves her friends so much, it’s a shame that she only got to know them now, when they’re almost all about to leave for college. She wants to spend the rest of her life with them if it were possible. 

“Surprise,” a voice behind Piper says. She whips around to see Jason in all his tall person glory. He pushes his glasses up and Piper can only stare at him. Annabeth rolls her eyes and pushes Piper into Jason. 

He catches her (because of course he does) and her heart nearly stops working. 

Annabeth mutters, “You two are impossible,” as she goes to the snack table. 

“W-what are you doing here?” Piper asks, Jason still holding onto her. 

“I had a change of plans at the last minute. I hope that’s okay,” Jason says, suddenly letting go and taking a step back, a respectable amount of distance between them. 

Piper can’t speak so she just nods her head. She’s overwhelmingly happy that he’s here, right in front of her. Until she remembers what holiday it is and what couples on that holiday do. 

As if the entire crowd can hear Piper’s thoughts, everyone starts to shout, “Ten! Nine! Eight!” 

The look Jason’s giving her makes her think that he’s asking permission. To kiss her, to be in her space, to take part in some stupid tradition. Piper takes a step towards him as if saying, “Yeah go ahead.” 

“Five! Four! Three!” 

Piper’s brain is screaming at her to stop oh please for the love of god. Her heart, on the other hand, is screaming fucking finally. 

This kiss is so different from their first. Their first kiss was something unexpected, something impulsive and stupid. This kiss is... perfect is the only word coming to mind. 

“Happy New Year!” is screamed from everyone around them. Piper finally pulls back, her heart pounding so loud that the entire neighborhood can hear. Jason’s eyes are still  closed, and Piper thinks she can stay in this moment forever. 

Jason’s phone rings and he pulls away, shocked. He looks at the caller ID and frowns. He looks from Piper to his phone and hits the answer button. 

“Hey  Khione ,” he says, stepping out of Piper’s bubble. 

Her heart feels like it’s been stepped on by a giant elephant. 

“Happy New Year!” Annabeth says from behind her, throwing her arms around Piper. 

_A happy New Year indeed,_ Piper thinks bitterly. 

* * *

_ February _

The past month has been as uneventful as it could be. 

Her dad still hides in his office from time to time, but he’s trying and that’s enough.  Silena left for school and it was just as painful as the first time. Drew had her first kiss (with Sadie fucking Kane who is apparently the smoothest freshman girl ever, according to Drew) and could not stop gushing about it for at least a week. Piper is still a mess when it comes to confronting her feelings for  Jason, so she just ignores them. Charlie still doesn’t talk to her.

Now the universe has decided to unload all the drama it can on the  one day Piper was hoping to avoid. 

Valentine’s Day.  

Percy had serenaded Annabeth before first period and all the girls in their grade had been looking longingly at their own boyfriends. 

Frank had given Leo a giant heart shaped rose boquet during their free period which made Leo burst into tears. 

Piper’s hoping Jason won’t do anything at all as lunch gets closer and closer. She can’t handle the mortification of being  publicly  romanced. 

To her surprise (and shocking disappointment) nothing happens all day. No flowers in her locker, no treats on the way to Jason’s lacrosse practice. She’s grateful, honestly, but it’s her first Valentine’s Day with a boyfriend and no matter how fake it is, she was hoping for at least something. 

Lacrosse practice ends and Jason drives Piper home, love songs blasting on the radio. Once Love of my Life by Queen starts playing, Piper’s had it. She changes the station, turns down the volume, anything to not be reminded by love. 

“Okay, what’s wrong?” Jason asks once he’s pulled up to Piper’s house. 

“Nothing’s wrong, why would anything be wrong?” Piper rushes out. She just wants to crawl into bed and watch whatever the opposite of a rom-com is. 

Jason shifts in his seat so he’s facing her and pulls on her elbow. Piper just pouts, secretly loving the attention. 

“Are you upset I didn’t do anything for today?” It’s shocking how easily he can read her mind. “I’m sorry, I just didn’t think you’d want the attention.” 

“You’re really sweet for thinking that, cause it’s true. I don’t know, I guess I thought that this year would be different since I technically have a boyfriend. I’m just used to hearing about these great romantic gestures and thought that it was finally my turn.” 

She’s rambling, sounding pathetic. But Jason’s just looking at her like she puts the stars in the sky, and Piper thinks she knows what Leo was talking about when he said he sees how Jason looks at her. 

“What?” Piper asks. 

“N-nothing, it’s not important.” Jason’s pulling back, closing himself up. That’s Piper’s job and she won’t let Jason steal it. 

“No, tell me.” He looks into her eyes, shifts his gaze down a little, then back up. Piper’s heart is beating ridiculously fast, but instead of wanting to run away, she embraces it. She leans more into Jason’s space, no longer afraid of what closing the distance might mean. 

“I think I want to break one of our rules.” 

Being a girl who doesn’t take too kindly to rules, she  murmurs , “So break it.” 

As far as romantic gestures go, this one takes the cake. 


	5. i might have to tell you something

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jealously has never been a good look on Piper but she thinks it’s warranted now. She doesn’t care that he was with her, he’s allowed to hang out with whoever he wants. It’s the fact that he didn’t tell her, as if he needed to keep it a secret.
> 
> “Am I just a joke to you?” The question takes Jason off guard, but Piper needs to ask. She’s been scared for the first few weeks of their relationship, worried that he only agreed to make fun of her. But Jason would never do that. At least that’s what Piper thought.
> 
> “I thought for once that someone wanted me, not my sister or my friend or some random girl in my math class! But apparently I was wrong. I’m tired of being someone’s second choice, Jason.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this feels like the end of an era, thank you everyone who has given this fic support, i wouldn't be here without you guys

_ February  _

Piper gets out of Jason’s car, happier and lighter than she’s ever felt before. She wants to look back, knows Jason is still looking at her. Oh god, Leo’s going to say, ‘I told you so’. 

With all the willpower in the universe, Piper doesn’t look until she’s closing her front door, hidden in her house. 

“Why are you smiling so creepily?” Drew says, scaring the shit out of Piper in the process. 

“I-I am  _ not  _ smiling creepily,” Piper protests. She can’t exactly say that Jason kissed her, and it was so undeniably romantic because Drew doesn’t know the truth. So, she says, “Jason just did something really nice for Valentine’s Day, that’s all.” It’s not exactly a lie. 

Drew hums in response, apparently satisfied with Piper’s answer. She lets out a sigh. She’s getting too close; everyone is getting too comfortable. It’s going to be even harder when they inevitably have to break up. 

Piper has to freeze Jason out, if only for a little while. Because he doesn’t like her like that, and she doesn’t like him like that, and that kiss was a one-time thing. 

Because it’s all fake.

* * *

_ March _

“Are you ready for the trip?” Annabeth calls from downstairs, ready to drive Piper to the school. Piper had thanked every possible god when she found out Annabeth is also on the student council. She can successfully avoid Jason and not be completely alone. 

“I just have to pack my backpack,” Piper shouts from her room, having to pack way more than just her backpack. She had meant to do it a few days ago, but she truly hates packing. 

Piper hears footsteps coming up the stairs and doesn’t even try to speed up the process. She just shouldn’t go at this point. 

“Oh yeah, this,” Annabeth points at the pile of clothes on Piper’s bed, “is just having to pack your backpack.” The clock on Piper’s desk blinks 7:45 and the bus is supposed to leave at 8:15. Yeah, she really shouldn’t go. 

“You know, maybe I can just stay in my room the entire trip and just not do anything,” Piper suggests, knowing Annabeth wouldn’t  _ totally _ be opposed to the idea. But Annabeth just shakes her head, disappointment radiating from her. Piper groans; she hates it when Annabeth is disappointed in her. 

“C’mon, I’ll help you. Just give me whatever you want to bring.” 

“Have I ever told you that I love you?” 

Fifteen minutes later, the bags are in the trunk of Annabeth’s car and Piper’s saying goodbye to Drew and her dad. 

“Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do,” Drew says, adding a wink that she thinks is discreet. Their dad catches it though, adding,

“Just be responsible.” 

Piper knows three days isn’t long at all, but she’s going to miss them. She’s slowly gotten used to it being just the three of them (well, just the two of them until recently) and being away feels wrong. Like it shouldn’t have to be just Drew and Dad, not yet at least. 

Annabeth parks and they shove their bags under the bus, rushing on at exactly 8:13. Piper sees Jason near the front, and he waves. She knows she should be sitting next to him, for appearances and all, but she can’t. She’s been avoiding him for the past couple weeks and can’t bring herself to tell him why. 

_ I’ve been catching real feelings for you recently and don’t know what to do about it.  _ Yeah, right. That would end just about as well as her friendship with Charlie. 

“I’m going to sit with Annabeth,” Piper says as she passes him, barely looking him in the eye. She pretends not to notice how he deflates a little, leans against the window like he’s in a sad music video. 

“Are you two okay?” Annabeth asks once they find seats. Piper just nods. She won’t break rule number whatever. Not after they broke rule number one. 

“Yeah, we’re fine. Just need some distance. I can’t have my entire life revolve around my boyfriend, now can I?” Piper says. Annabeth nods, puts on her headphones. Piper sleeps the entire way there, refusing to look at Jason again. 

* * *

The first day consists of watching people pretend they know how to surf, a thunderstorm starting two hours after they get there, and Piper forcing Annabeth to watch  _ Scrubs.  _

“Can I legally change my name to  Slagathor now?” Annabeth asks, eating the chocolate Piper had packed. Piper snorts, scrolling through her Instagram feed. 

_ @jason_grace posted a new picture.  _

The notification makes Piper’s pulse quicken. It’s a picture of him on the beach with the school’s treasurer Juniper and the vice president Carter (who, Piper learned, is Sadie Fucking Kane’s older brother). 

_ @jason_grace: hi, I'm here to audition for the role of the little mermaid.  _

The caption makes Piper smile, until she sees one of the comments.

_ @khionetheicequeen: I'll be your prince  _ _ eric _ _ ; )  _

“I’m going to throw myself into the sea,” Piper says and shows Annabeth her phone. 

“She’s just trying to annoy you, don’t let it get to you.” Easier said than done. 

“But it is getting to me. Ever since I started dating Jason,  Khione’s been flirting with him and taunting me. I’m tired of her stupid snake eyes following me all the time.” 

_ If we broke up it wouldn’t be a problem anymore.  _

Annabeth snatches Piper’s phone, types something, then hands it back. 

_ @lightning.mclean: @khionetheicequeen why not try out for ursula? You already look the part. _

Annabeth’s smiling, and Piper says, “Before I throw myself into the sea, I'm going to kill you.” Annabeth runs out of the room  and  Piper chases her into the lobby, their laughter echoing off the cabin walls. 

* * *

 

Piper can tell Jason wants to talk to her mostly because she’s desperate to talk to him too, but he’s being respectful and keeping his distance. Piper wishes he wasn’t an amazing person sometimes. 

But them freezing each other out is good ammo for when they break up.  _ As dramatic as possible.  _

Piper’s plan is to break up with Jason before the get on the bus, so she won’t even have to look at him on the way home. 

“Okay, something is definitely wrong,” Annabeth says as they’re getting ready for bed. The second day of the trip passed Piper by in a blur, filled with tight-lipped smiles and awkward amounts of eye contact. 

“Nothing is wrong,” Piper lies. “I just think the spark is gone.” Piper tries so hard to avoid Annabeth’s gaze, to not just come out and say the entire relationship is a sham. 

Annabeth breaks her in five seconds. 

Piper explains her entire situation, first the letters, then the complications with her sister, and how Piper thinks she has real feelings for Jason now, right before they’re supposed to end it. 

“You’ve put, what, eight months into this fake relationship?” Annabeth asks. Piper nods in confirmation. “That’s longer than most people’s real relationships. Piper, he wouldn’t be doing all of this if he didn’t have feelings for you.” 

Leo’s said it, Annabeth is saying it. Why can’t Piper just trust that they’re right? 

_ Because I'm too scared that they’re wrong.  _

“You can’t run from this forever. You can either pretend to end it or start a relationship for real. But the longer you wait, the worse it’ll get. Trust me, I speak from experience.” 

“What if he doesn’t want me?” Piper asks, fear in her voice. Piper can see pity in Annabeth’s eyes, but something else.  _ Hope.  _

“There’s only one way to find out.” 

* * *

Piper finds Jason on the beach, sitting in front of a long-abandoned campfire. He doesn’t see her at first, giving Piper an extra second to calm herself. She can do this. 

“Can I join you?” Piper asks. Jason looks up at her, scoots over to give her space. 

“I thought we were ignoring each other. Preparing for the big break up and all.” He sounds hurt and Piper’s saddened that it’s because of her. 

She takes a deep breath, hoping that Leo and Annabeth are right. Annabeth usually is right though, so she’s right about this. 

“I’m sorry I've been avoiding you lately. And that I didn’t sit with you on the bus.”

“You think I'm mad because you didn’t sit with me?” He’s not looking at her, staring at the fire. 

Piper doesn’t know how to answer. Yes, she thought that’s why he’s mad at her. Maybe she doesn’t know him as well as she thought she did. 

“Piper, I'm mad because you didn’t give me a warning. You just stopped trying. I thought you wanted some big dramatic breakup.” 

_ I want the exact opposite of a breakup.  _

But she can’t say those words. She’s spent too long hiding her heart in fear it’ll get hurt. She can’t risk it again. 

“Hell, I tried so hard to figure out why you’d be mad enough to stop talking to me. I even asked Drew what your favorite snacks are so I could get them for the bus ride,” Jason continues, unaware of Piper’s internal monologue. 

Drew knows for a fact that Piper’s favorite snack is fry bread, a Cherokee recipe that Grandpa Tom had passed down to Silena the last time they had visited. 

“Did you  _ make _ fry bread?” Piper asks. Jason looks away from the fire, at her, and nods. 

“Drew helped, of course.” 

Screw being careful. She cares so much about this boy, about this relationship. He feels the same way, Piper’s sure of it. They both want this.

Piper leans forward, uses the bench they’re sitting on to propel her up, and then she’s kissing Jason. 

 If she thought their kiss on Valentine’s Day was perfect, this kiss is like something out of a fairytale. Jason’s hands are in her hair, keeping them both steady. Piper needs air, but she never wants this to end. 

They break apart, foreheads touching. Piper thinks she could make a career out of kissing this boy. 

“I know we’re supposed to break up tomorrow, but I...” Piper starts. “I don’t want to. I want this to be real.” 

Judging from how Jason’s looking at her, he wants it to be real too. 

He leans down, kisses Piper. Every love song ever written makes complete sense now. Jason shifts so he’s facing Piper, and she’s brave enough to end up in his lap. 

Piper’s sure her face is bright red, but she doesn’t care. 

They kiss and kiss until the campfire dies down, until Piper gets a text from Annabeth asking if she’s been kidnapped or something. 

Jason walks her to her room, holds her hand the entire way. 

“Sit with me tomorrow?” Piper asks, hand on the doorknob. 

“Obviously,” Jason answers, pushes up his glasses. 

Piper goes to bed that night feeling like she can touch the stars. 

* * *

 

The bus welcomes Piper with cheers and claps. Someone even whistles as she takes the seat next to Jason. 

“What was that all about?” she asks. Jason looks just as confused. 

“I’m sure it’s nothing. People do that with couples on these kinds of trips.” Piper accepts his answer, as vague as it is. But no one cheered when Katie Gardner and her boyfriend got on the bus. 

“Can I use your shoulder as a pillow? I didn’t get much sleep last night,” Jason says. 

“Yeah, and whose fault is that?” Piper asks teasingly. Two girls sitting in front of them giggle, obviously listening. They peak behind the seats and share a look, like they know something Piper doesn’t. 

Jason falls asleep as soon as the bus pulls out, leaving Piper alone with her thoughts. 

The entire bus ride people keep shooting her looks, whispering to the people around them. It makes her feel uncomfortable. The instinct to run is overwhelming. 

By the time they get back to the school, it feels like everyone’s eyes are on her. Did Jason say anything about last night? No, he wouldn’t. He respects her privacy and would never betray her like that. 

“I know I say this a lot, but are you okay?” Annabeth asks as they wait to get their bags. Piper just nods, her shoulders scrunched up. She feels nauseous, jaw clenched tight.

Mr. Brunner, the chaperone, hands Piper her suitcase, wishing her a nice spring break. Piper murmurs a thanks, ready to just go home and sleep. 

“Piper! I didn’t think you’d be going on the trip.” Son of a bitch. 

Piper turns to see  Khione waving, sunglasses perched on the top of her head. 

“I don’t mean to sound sleep deprived and cranky, but why are you even here?” Piper asks, totally meaning to sound sleep deprived and cranky. 

“My brother’s the senior rep, silly!” Of course, he is. Even when Piper was supposed to relax and be on vacation,  Khione was still making her miserable. “Oh, and I think it’s really big of you to be cool about Jason being at my place for Christmas and New Year’s.” What? “Most people wouldn’t be so nice about their boyfriend’s hanging out with their exes.” 

Piper’s going to explode. 

“Between that and him  facetiming me the other night, I'd thought for sure you’d dump him. But then I heard about you two,”  Khione drops her voice to a whisper, “ _ doing it _ at the beach last night. Best girlfriend of the year award goes to you.”  Khione winks, either not noticing or not caring that Piper has completely shut down at this point. 

She’s really going to murder someone today. 

Piper doesn’t notice that  Khione’s left until Jason’s standing right in front of her, asking if she’s okay. Apparently, no one can tell that she’s  _ not _ okay. She is the furthest thing from okay. 

“Did you tell people about last night?” Piper asks, unable to keep the anger from her voice. Jason takes a tiny step back. 

“No, of course not. I would never do that, you know that.” Piper’s not sure anymore. 

“Were you at  Khione’s for the holidays? And did you  facetime her the other day to tell her about us?” Her voice is getting louder and people are looking at them, but Piper’s too upset to care.

“I was with  Khione for Christmas and New Year’s, and I was talking with her the other day, but I didn’t tell her anything about us. I swear, Piper.” 

Jealously has never been a good look on Piper but she thinks it’s warranted now. She doesn’t care that he was with her, he’s allowed to hang out with whoever he wants. It’s the fact that he didn’t tell her, as if he needed to keep it a secret. 

“Am I just a joke to you?” The question takes Jason off guard, but Piper needs to ask. She’s been scared for the first few weeks of their relationship, worried that he only agreed to make fun of her. But Jason would never do that. At least that’s what Piper thought. 

“I thought for once that someone wanted  _ me _ , not my sister or  my friend or some random girl in my math class! But apparently I was wrong. I’m tired of being someone’s second choice, Jason.” 

She never should’ve put her heart on the line like that. It was stupid to think that Jason would stick around or agree to be with her without any ulterior motives. It might’ve worked for Annabeth and Leo, but not everyone is so lucky. 

“Piper, please just let me explain. I’ll drive you home and we can talk.” 

“I’d rather walk than be in a car with you. No, actually I’d rather drive myself home.” Piper texts Annabeth letting her know she needs a ride. She just wants to go home and pretend the last eight months never happened. 

* * *

It’s early enough that everyone’s still asleep when Piper gets home. She flings all her bags onto the couch and stomps upstairs. Piper flops onto her bed, a million thoughts running through her head. 

Jason must’ve told people, right? That's the only way they could’ve found out. Unless someone saw them and then told everyone else. But who could’ve seen them? No one else was out last night; if anyone  _ was  _ out there, Piper would never have kissed Jason. 

It feels like hours of contemplating her entire relationship go by when there’s a knock on Piper’s door. 

“Hey little sister.” 

_ Silena.  _

Piper wasn’t expecting to see her until summer break started. 

“Oh my gosh. What are you doing here?” Piper’s so overwhelmingly happy, all thoughts of Jason leave her mind. 

“I’m off on spring break. Thought it’d be nice to see everyone again.” The way she says it is so causal, like she was just in the next state, not another country. But Silena’s smile is as big as Piper’s and it gives her away. Silena missed them. It makes Piper’s heart soar. 

Once everyone has woken up, Silena suggests going out shopping. Drew explodes with happiness, claiming how she hasn’t gotten any new clothes since Christmas and she’s dying. Piper wants nothing more than to stay home, her hatred of shopping and her terrible mood too strong to motivate her to spend time with her sisters. 

“You know how much I would love to go shopping, but the beach left me kind of sick,” Piper lies, coughing to make them feel guilty. 

“No problem, we’ll bake cookies and watch movies,” Silena suggest as Drew pretends to pout. Piper likes that plan. 

The cookies are in the oven and  _ The Princess Diaries  _ is playing when someone knocks on the door. 

“Were you expecting anyone?” Silena asks. Piper and Drew shake their heads. Piper’s partly scared it’s Charlie; what if he heard that Silena’s home and wants to talk? Piper can only imagine how terrible that conversation will end.

Piper goes to get the door as she’s the one who’s closest to it (a fact pointed out by Drew because of course). It’s not Charlie, but Jason. 

“Can we talk?” he asks. Silena yells from inside, asking who it is. 

“It’s no one! Just some mail guy,” Piper shouts back. “Outside,” she hisses at Jason, closing the door behind them. 

She already saw him today, told him she wanted nothing to do with him. So why is he here? To apologize? To win her back? She won’t give him the satisfaction. 

“I want you to leave,” Piper says. She stuffs her hands in her pockets, mostly so she can resist the urge to grab Jason’s hand. 

“No, I need to explain myself,” Jason says, urgency in his voice. She doesn’t want his explanation; doesn’t want anything he has to offer. 

“My sister is here, and I want to spend time with her, not hear some half-assed apology. As of right now I don’t want to be with you or around you. So please, just leave.” 

Piper turns to go back inside, but Jason catches her by her elbow. 

“Let go,” Piper says .  His grip isn’t tight so she can easily  stomp back inside, but a part of her wants to stay, hear what he has to say. A small part, but a part nonetheless. 

“ She told you to leave,” a voice behind her says. Piper turns, Jason’s hand leaving her elbow. Charlie Fucking  Beckendorf .  Of course. 

Jason’s face falls . Confusion is etched on his features until they melt into anger. Why is he, of all people, angry?

“I get it now. This was never about me; it’s about you still being in love with  Beckendorf !” Jason accuses. 

Piper opens her mouth to say how impossibly far off he is, how she hasn’t thought about Charlie like  _ that  _ in months, but s omeone else speaks up first. 

“You’re  _ what _ ?” It’s Silena,  hand on the doorknob, Drew semi-hidden behind her. Piper’s heart shatters into a million pieces. 

“No, Silena, that’s not what I…” Silena’s stomping into the house before Piper can finish,  her sobs stabbing Piper in the gut. “Both of you, please just  _ leave _ .”  Piper pleads, ready to chase after her. 

“I didn’t  know she was home,” Charlie says,  and he sounds so defeated it breaks Piper’s heart .

“Yeah, it was supposed to be a surprise.”  She’s done, just so done.  

Tears are in her eyes as she walks back inside.  She thinks she hears Jason  say she  was never second  best before she closes the  door, but she’s too heartbroken to find out .

* * *

Piper lays in bed, tears sliding down her cheeks. Drew has been alternating between her room and Silena’s, bringing them food and trying to get them to talk. Piper’s not sure if  Drew wants them to talk to her or each other. Maybe a bit of both. 

The third hour of Piper’s Sad Boi Hours playlist  hits as Drew comes in again, a cup of sleepy time tea in her hands. Drew always managed to make it exactly like their mom used to. 

“You two need to talk. Explain  things to her, and me too. I’m at a loss.” 

_ She wouldn’t listen even if I tried.  _

“She doesn’t want to talk to me.” Tissues litter her bed and the floor around it. 

Drew sits on the bed,  takes Piper’s  hand in hers. 

“ She’s sad, not angry. If you just explain things, she’ll understand.”

“ She can’t understand  _ this _ . I can’t even understand this.”  A sob leaves her,  and Piper buries her face in her blanket. Silena will never forgive her. 

Drew squeezes her hand, leaves the room. Piper doesn’t even touch the tea, just grabs her  phone and scrolls through Instagram. 

_ @overheardatGoode tagged you in a post.  _

What? 

Piper clicks on the notification and it takes her to a video. Two people are  sitting near a campfire, one in the other’s lap. Piper’s heart stops because she knows exactly who those people are. Her and Jason. 

_ @overheardatGoode:  _ _ the sand isn’t the only thing getting wet at this year’s student council beach trip.  _

What. The. Fuck. 

Piper’s shrieks, her depressed mood replaced with extreme horror and anger. 

Who could’ve taken this? No one was around  that night ; how could this  happen? 

Piper looks at the comments, which  is a mistake. The words  _ slut _ and  _ skank _ make a n appearance, along with  _ not as prudish as I thought.  _

First of all, what the fuck? Second of all, what the  _ fuck?  _ It’s not like anything happened, they didn’t actually do  _ it.  _ Besides, even if they did, it’s not anyone’s business.  It’s not like half the school hasn’t done it already, so why is she being called out?  Nothing even  _ happened.  _

She needs Silena. 

After taking longer than necessary to decide whether to knock or just run back to her room,  Piper’s asking Silena to let her in, that she needs her help. 

“Well, it’s dark enough that you can’t see your face, plus your back is facing the camera. If you weren’t tagged, it could be anyone.” And just like that, Silena is her big sister again. 

“But it wasn’t just anyone; it was me. I filmed a sex tape without even having sex. How messed up is that?” 

Silena takes Piper’s hand, reports the video  as it violates child pornography laws.  It’s taken care of, but not really. Everyone has seen it by now, everyone knows it was her. 

Jason isn’t even  going to be talked about, he’ll just get congratulated. Piper’s the one who has to deal with the ridicule and the whispers.  She’ll be catcalled, whistled at even more now . Because being  half Native America,  half  Japanese wasn’t included with enough fetishization. 

“Hey, it’ll be okay. This will blow over in a few weeks, maybe a month tops,” Silena says, rubbing small circles into Piper’s back. 

Through her tears, Piper manages to choke out,  “I’m sorry. For not telling you about how I felt towards Charlie . I thought that if I kept it bottled up for long enough then it would just go away .”

“ Piper, you don’t have to do this. I understand  why you kept it from me. But I thought we could always be honest with each other.” 

“I know, and we can.  I was just scared that you would hate me. ” 

“As much as you can get on my nerves, I could never hate you . And I never want to let something as stupid as boy drama come between us again. I won’t lose you like that.” 

How is Silena so good at saying the perfect thing?  The two girls hug and it’s like the last few hours never happened. Too much has happened today, and Piper’s glad that at least one thing  was fixed. 

So, Piper explains . Everything. And it’s surprisingly easy to put her feelings into words now.  Maybe keeping everything bottled up isn’t as healthy as Piper’s believed.  It’s okay to rely on others to help . 

“Um, Piper?” Drew says. She’s standing in the doorway, hidden in the shadows. She scares the crap out of Piper. 

“How long have you been standing there?” Silena asks, just as frightened. 

“About the entire time,” Drew confesses.  Piper rests her head on Silena’s shoulder,  surprisingly relaxed for the first time in weeks . 

Drew joins her sisters on the bed,  taking Silena’s hand. The McLean girls, together again . It’s enough to make Piper realize how different her life is compared to just a few months ago. How different she is,  how different they all are. 

“I was the one who sent the letters,” Drew says.  All sentimental thoughts leave Piper’s head. She’s going to murder her. 

“I will kill you,” Piper whispers, and Drew’s flying across the room to put space between them. Piper launches herself at her, ignoring Silena’s  attempt at a barrier. 

“I thought that if,” Drew stops, panting. “I thought if you  had more options then you’d have a better chance at getting a boyfriend.” 

That does absolutely nothing to calm Piper down. 

“That doesn’t mean you had to send all of them!” Silena grabs onto Piper’s arm,  yanks her onto the bed. Drew dives under Silena’s desk. 

“Hey, hey,” Silena says,  practically sitting on Piper. “Her heart was in the right place.  Maybe she went about it in the wrong way-”

“ _ Maybe _ ?” 

“But she was just trying to be helpful. C’mon Pipes, if I can forgive you for writing my boyfriend a love letter, can you forgive Drew for sending it?” 

Of course she can forgive Drew. She’ll pretend she’s holding a grudge, but those letters being sent out have given her the happiest months of her life. Also the most stressful, but  it’s fine. 

“You owe me,” Piper says, giving Drew a death glare.  Drew nods, muttering how she just wants to make it to sophomore year. 

Silena suggests  they finish the movie and eat some cookies. Piper can’t exactly say no to that. 

* * *

Piper knows she’ll have to face everyone at school soon enough, but she wishes spring break went on for the rest of time. 

Monday rolls around  and  Silena’s left by now which has not gotten any easier. 

Piper leaves earlier than usual,  actually driving herself in case Jason thinks he still has to drive her and Drew.  It’s not easy and she hates the school parking lot, but she gets there in one piece. 

As soon as she steps in the building, she wants to go home and cry. 

Whispers fill the halls, comments  made by everyone she passes. 

It’s not even that bad compared to what awaits her at her locker. 

A huge crowd of people are gathered around it and taped to it is a picture of her and Jason on the beach, the words  _ it’s always the ones you least expect  _ written on it. 

“ Oh my god, she must be so embarrassed,” Piper hears someone whisper  in the crowd. Well, no shit. 

Piper tears the picture down, pushes through the crowd, and makes her way to  the bathroom. Might as well cry in a semi-private place. 

She doesn’t get very far as someone grabs her elbow. Jason. 

“Woah, woah, Pipes.  What’s going on?” Like he cares. Piper just shoves the picture at him . “Shit.” Jason turns to the crowd now gathered around the two of them. “Not that it’s anyone’s business, but  _ nothing  _ happened on the beach. For fuck’s sake, just leave Piper alone.” 

People start to  leave, heading to their first period classes.  Jason  crumples up the picture  and  reaches out for Piper but thinks better of it. 

“I’m going to find who did this and punch them,” Piper says, her anger  simmering to the  surface . 

“You know who did it?” Jason asks.  _ You’ve got to be kidding me.  _

“It’s obvious. I know and so  should you.” 

Piper finds  Khione in the bathroom, applying  makeup. 

“Why’d you post that video?” Piper asks, not even bothering to confirm that  Khione actually did post it. 

“You’re smart enough; figure it out.” 

Jealousy is the only word that comes to mind. Jealousy is the main reason anyone would do something  that extreme. 

“Were you jealous of me?” 

“Ding ding ding! We have a winner,”  Khione says,  and Piper can just picture steam coming out of her ears.  “For so long I’ve been invisible, to my family, to everyone. Jason made me  feel  _ seen  _ for the first time in so long.” 

Piper can understand that. Hell, Piper’s been there too many times. 

“Then he meets you , and I’m invisible again. ‘Oh , my new friend Piper is so smart!’ ‘My new friend Piper is so funny!’ Do you know how much he would talk about you?” 

Piper did not. For the longest time she thought Jason only saw her as a friend, but maybe that wasn’t the case. They could’ve been dating for real if she wasn’t such a coward. 

“ And now, I have to beg him to spend time with me, and I know he only does it out of pity.  I just wanted him to see me again.” 

Piper let’s  Khione’s words sink in, realizes that  they’re not exactly that different.  Jason had always made Piper feel less invisible, talked her through things and made her feel better.  Khione just wanted that again. It didn’t justify her ruining Piper’s reputation or being a huge jerk, but now Piper has the origin story. 

“ Listen, I know what that feels like. My dad used to be so uninvolved in my life and my sisters’.  It sucks, it really does. But you’re a powerful, intelligent , and scary woman. You do not need  your entire life to revolve around some guy. Soon you’re going to find where you belong, with people who care about you. Hell, I did. So can you.” 

Khione doesn’t look at her, just stares at her shoes. Minutes pass where neither  of them say anything, just letting Piper’s words hang in the air. 

“You don’t need to make other people – especially other girls – your competition just so you can feel better about yourself.” 

Another beat, and then:

“ I’ll take the video down. But not for you, or for Jason. I’m doing this for me,”  Khione says and leaves the bathroom. 

Piper thinks they just went from enemies to acquaintances. That’s enough for her. 

* * *

A week later and things have mostly calmed down. Some people still make comments, but it’s nothing compared to when the video was first posted.  Khione even waves at Piper in the halls now. 

Piper still feels miserable though. 

“You should talk to him,” Drew says, feet in Piper’s lap. Piper pretends not to hear, too invested in Gal  Gadot’s shoulders. 

Drew throws popcorn at her, repeating herself. 

“What would I say? ‘I’m sorry I thought you lied about us having sex, but you still lied about your ex-girlfriend'? It’s not that simple.” 

“It’s always that simple, Pipes. You just don’t want to get hurt. It’s fine to protect yourself, but not at the risk of your own happiness.” 

When did she get so wise? 

Cut to five minutes later, Piper’s finger hovering over the call button. Jason’s contact picture stares back at her, a selfie he took the night of  Khione’s party. 

She can’t do it. It’s better to just leave everything they way it is.

Sure, she and Leo sit on the bleachers by themselves now, and Percy doesn’t text her as much as he used to, and she and Jason pretend the other doesn’t exist. But it’s fine. 

Her dad knocks on her bedroom door, offering advice and milkshakes.

“I could always use a milkshake.” 

“Did you know I used to be an actor,” her dad says, as Piper slurps up her Oreo milkshake.  She almost chokes on it, turning in her car seat to look at her dad. 

“Why’d you stop?” Even though Piper has an idea of why, she needs to hear for herself. 

“The only roles I could get were  Native chiefs or an idiot sidekick. I never got to be the hero. Everyone told me  who I was and what I had to do. So I quit, met your mom. ”  _ Then she left.  _

“Why are you telling me this?” Piper asks, wondering how this is supposed to make her feel better.  It’s only making her feel worse, and she feels bad that her dad had to go through that. 

“Because, I let people’s opinions of me dictate who I should be. I don’t want you to make my mistake.” 

Is that what’s happening to Piper? She  _ has _ been retreating further away from everyone, too scared of what they’ll think of her. 

“Recently, I got to see another side of you, Pipes. Your sisters already see that side, but me and everyone else in your life finally got to see it too. I know running seems like the best answer because it’s the easiest. But at the end of the day, you’re just hurting yourself and the people who care about you.” 

Piper doesn’t realize she’s crying until her dad hands her a tissue. She’s no better than her mom, leaving everyone behind like she has been. 

“I just don’t want to get hurt,” she whispers.  _ A little too late for that though.  _

“I know, trust me when I say that I understand. But I don’t want you to become like me and your mother. You deserve to have a happy life.” 

Piper slurps up the rest of her milkshake and pulls out her phone. She’s going to make things right. 

* * *

“Thank you for coming over,” Piper says as Charlie sits down on the couch. She’s terrified as all hell, but she  has to do this before it’s too late. 

“Yeah, uh, I’m glad you texted me.” He sounds tense, but it’s all about powering through. Piper’s done running away. 

“I never wanted you to see that letter. The only reason I wrote it was so that I could get over you. I liked you when you first moved here, but when I saw that you and  Silena got along so well, I didn’t know how to feel. I guess when I started dating Jason, I finally realized that I got over you a long time ago.”   

“Why didn’t you just tell me that before?” Charlie asks, fidgets on the couch. 

“I didn’t know until I broke things off with Jason. By the time I figured it all out, I was scared that you wouldn’t listen.” 

Charlie looks at her, the way he’s looked at her for so many years: like she’s his little sister. It used to hurt Piper more than she wanted to admit, but now she’s elated that he’s looking at her like that again. Things are almost back to normal. 

“So, what happens with you and Grace now?” Charlie asks. 

“I’m not sure. I used to think he was the perfect boyfriend, but that’s probably because he was my first boyfriend. I think it’s best if I just leave him alone.” 

“Are you sure about that?” Drew asks, scaring the shit out of Piper once again. She has a letter in her hand with Piper’s name printed on it. “It was in the mailbox this morning.” 

Piper snatches it from Drew’s hand, opens it. It’s dated the day before New Year’s. 

_ Piper, _

_ I figured it was time you got your own love letter. I’m not as good with words as you are, so bear with me.  _

_ I’ve liked you for a  _ _ really long _ _ time, probably since the day I met you. You’re smart, and funny, and have great taste in movies.  _

_ I know we’re supposed to break up soon, but I don’t want to. You’re probably one of the best things in my life, and I don’t want to give you up. Also yes, we do have chemistry together.  _

_ You’re a wonderful person, and I hope you feel the same way.  _

_ Oh, I have your ribbon from that party. _

_ Love, Jason.  _

Piper looks inside the envelope to see her mother’s ribbon. She had tied it to Jason’s wrist when she was too drunk to know what she was doing. And she forgot about it.  _ He kept it.  _

“This is from before New Year’s,” Piper says. “Does he still feel that way?” 

“Pipes,” Charlie starts, “he wouldn’t have given it to you if he didn’t.” 

“You have to talk to him,” Drew commands. “He has lacrosse practice until five today. If you hurry, you can make it before he leaves.”

“How do you know he has lacrosse practice?” Piper asks. 

“We text regularly,” Drew says, running to grab Piper’s shoes and car keys.  _ Weird, but okay.  _

Piper feels overwhelmed, like if there’s one more thing on her plate, she’ll explode. But she can do this, she  _ has  _ to do this. They’ll talk, they’ll make it work. 

_ Oh god please let Drew be right.  _

“Go, go!” Drew and Charlie both  yell , ushering Piper out the door. Piper checks her phone:  _ 4:46 PM _ . Oh god, oh fuck what if she doesn’t make it? She almost asks Charlie to drive  her but decides that wouldn’t be good if Jason saw him. 

Piper starts the car, blasts Queen to calm herself down. Well, more like pump herself up, but she’s about to explode. 

_ 4:56 PM.  _

Piper parks near the field, doesn’t even bother to lock her car. She just has to get to Jason. 

His teammates are putting their equipment away, some wave as Piper runs by. Others whistle at her, but she ignores them. It doesn’t matter right now. 

Jason is the last one on the field, and Piper stops dead in her tracks. He doesn’t see her, too busy picking up cones. 

“Hey!” she shouts. Jason turns around and Piper feels like there’s a huge spotlight on her. She barely registers that she’s clutching the ribbon in her hand like a lifeline. 

“What are you doing here?” Jason asks. Piper’s ready to declare her feelings, ready to listen to what he has to say. 

Instead, all she can say is, “I drove myself here.” 

Jason’s smile is small, but it’s still a smile. 

“Uh, congrats Pipes.” The nickname makes her heart glow. 

“Okay bye,” she rushes out.  _ Bad idea, bad idea.  _

“Hey, what’s in your hand?”  _ Shit.  _

Jason steps into her space, takes the ribbon from her hand. He knows she read his letter. 

“Do you still feel that way?” Piper asks. No more running. Running is the worst; it makes you all sweaty and your lungs catch fire. Except Piper’s lungs are already on fire from this conversation, so running can’t be that bad.

_ No. I won’t be my parents.  _

“Depends. Are you still mad at me?” Piper pretends to think about, shakes her head no. “The only reason I was hanging out with  Khione was so I could tell her to leave you alone. I didn’t tell you because I was scared you’d think I was cheating, which you thought anyway. So, no more lies and secrets. I’m in love with you Piper McLean.” 

_ In what now?  _

“You’re what?” Piper asks, mostly because she wants to hear him say it again. 

“I’m in love with you and only you.” He’s smirking, knows how Piper’s checked out at this point. Her eyes should just be replaced with hearts now. 

“I’m in love with you too Jason Grace, and not in a fake way.” Piper’s shocked at how much she means it. She  _ is  _ in love with him, probably has been for  a while now. 

Jason leans in, and Piper’s heart is in her throat. 

Before he kisses her, he asks, “You  gonna break my heart, McLean?” 

Piper would never dream of it. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> as any movie director would say, that's a wrap

**Author's Note:**

> hopefully i can get chapter two out in a normal amount of time but probably not


End file.
